User talk:Twinklewing
If you have any questions or need help with anything, you can leave a message for me here or at my talk page --thisniss 14:21, 25 February 2007 (UTC) 12reasons Right now, this piece does not meet the standards for an article on the Wikiality.com Internets tubes, but I would like to see you fix it so it can stay. There are a couple of obvious things that I'm going to point out here, and then I would recommend that you see the Common Mistakes Beginners Make and Beginner's Guide pages. # The biggest problem with this page is that the bulk of the text is taken from the "12 Reasons Flyer," which I've seen a lot in other contexts (and I imagine a pretty good section of our community has, too). While questions of "plagiarism" may not apply here, since the flyer wants to be distributed freely, it is ... well, not very "original" to make someone else's work the bulk of the article. # The tone of the "12 Reasons" flyer, while ironic, is not precisely the satirical tone that most of the articles here adopt. I like to think of what we do as a kind of "right wing drag" (although you can't tell anyone that I'm not always completely sincere, or I will get in such big trouble). Part of what makes Stephen Colbert so funny is the fact that people watch him and are not quite sure, at first, whether he "is or isn't" in agreement with what he's saying. In this article, you start out in the tone of satire, but then move immediately into the "12 Reasons" doc. The 12 reasons doc doesn't really leave the "is it or isn't it" ambiguity. It really does tells us how it feels. This is one of the primary differences between sarcasm or irony and satire. # There are also some formatting issues, but those are expected when you're new. Formatting is a far distant second to truthiness. If you want to keep this article here, you need to find a way to take the same "points" from the 12 reasons flyer and rework them through your own gut. You can subvert the "thought process" (if there is one) that attacks gay marriage or gay adoption or the "Homosexual Agenda" - while still loving the Ex-Gays themselves, of course - just as effectively in other ways. I usually try to start any article I write here by thinking "how can I argue as if I agreed with this, while showing the absurdity and emptiness at the same time?" It's the "as if I agreed" part that the original "12 reasons" doc lacks - it's not a failure in the doc, just a difference in purpose, audience, and venue. For now, the article has been tagged as "Too Liberal" and in need of "Fixing." These tags mean basically what I've already told you: that you have to bring it in line with the tone of the rest of this site in order for it to stay. Another thought which just occurred to me is that if you want to quote the original "12 reasons," you might try doing a "point/counterpoint" type thing. But you have to keep in mind that everything we do here comes out of The Stephen Colbert Experience - it's all satire. I hope this helps to explain our process and expectations. Let me know if you have questions or need help.--thisniss 14:57, 25 February 2007 (UTC)